In Tails And Fangs, Count Zecula Ready To Sweep Bride Away

WEST PALM BEACH — The wedding will take place in a building on 13th Street and the moon, naturally, will be full. The bride will be dressed in ghostly white, the groom in tails, satin cape and fangs.

Rumor has it there also will be a coffin tonight at Count Zecula`s wedding on All Hallow`s Eve -- and it won`t be empty.

It may be hard to tell the dead from the undead, the humans from the creatures, as guests gather to witness the 10 p.m. marriage of Michael James Goodson and Katrina Marie Bivens of West Palm Beach.

Goodson, South Florida`s definitive Dracula expert, and Bivens will exchange I-do`s in a bone-chilling, macabre but quite legal ceremony that the groom has been planning for nearly a year.

Reception specialties? Just the usual for vampire affairs. Blood punch and hot rats on a stick. And Gunther the Bat loves eyeball salad.

``I think it`s gotten out of control,`` said Goodson. But Bivens smiled.

``I think it`s great,`` she said. ``I didn`t know what to expect, but I knew to expect the wildest. I mean, hot rats on a stick and eyeball salad?``

The couple said they did not want to reveal any more secrets in store for at least 100 guests invited to their wedding tonight, but they hinted there would be surprises that would straighten permanent waves.

``And there`s going to be a full moon,`` said the groom with a gleam in his eyes.

Goodson, a computer graphics illustrator with Pratt-Whitney, said his interest in vampires began about three years ago when Bivens began teasing her friends that she was dating Dracula.

For their entertainment, he donned a black cape.

Today, the satin electronic cape Goodson wears costs $300 and has a collar that throws fire. He carries a business card that identifies him as Zecula, Vampire Extraordinaire. And if you ask him how old he is, he`ll tell you 628 -- the same as Dracula. Among his vampire memorabilia are books, records and video cassettes of nearly every Dracula movie available.

``As a child, I feared Dracula more than any monster, more than werewolves,`` Goodson said.

As for Bivens, she said she`s the timid sort.

``I couldn`t handle watching Friday the 13th,`` she said.

``I never thought I`d get married this way,`` she said. ``But Mike`s Mike. He`s himself, and I don`t try to push my thoughts on him. And the wedding part itself is serious.``

Goodson agrees.

The couple said that later they may even build their dream house. It will feature just the essentials, Goodson said. Moving walls, falling chandeliers, creeping candelabra and your standard trap doors.